Hello.....and she will work for food!!

Hi there......we have been away for a while but not just sitting around. Kati has met the lawn mower and the sewing machine. Yes the lawn mower in Feb.......i have been mowing up my dead grass since Jan. now. I have a huge backyard by AZ standards and i am now on my 5th giant trash can of scraped off dead grass and i am sure i will need to get to a sixth. The nice thing is that there is green coming up now too. Kati quietly goes into the house when she sees the mower and does not come out until i put it away in the garage.

On the other hand Dobie is all into mowing and likes to bark at the mower when it is running. He is certainly the noisy child and likes to be heard!! He likes to go from one side of the yard to the other dog talking to his neighbor buds. The funny thing is, he is never the initiator. We can be in the yard minding our own quiet business and he hears a barker several houses away and must respond to the call of the wild. Kati has almost figured out he is crazy and does not let his noise bother her so much anymore. She does not bolt into the house at warp speed anymore but kind of walks fast back to the door while he does his thing. Little brat!!

I am not sure if the sewing machine noise or the cords bothered her but we made it through that little venture and i got my pants shortened. Yes, i can sew......when you are short and want to wear pants it really is a necessity. Oh and we did a thunder storm the night before last. She was forced to be scared and allow me to pick her up during the loudest part and hold her. It think Molly was jealous as she has been the big storm baby in the past. She moves and can't decide what to do, i think she would have been fine with being held too, but she sat beside us. It was over pretty quick and Kati could not wait to get down. We all went back to bed and slept well.

She met her Dr. a couple of weeks ago. A doggie Dr. that comes to the house.....she is all cool and touchy feely and all into her dog patients. She changed up our flower essences and i think there is a change in her as a result. She also told me to make her work for food and she is doing her business much better outside..... So we don't go outside without treats now and if she pees or poops she come running for one. She is on to the deal and it seems to be working. And it is going to get a new fake wood floor in my office.........so i guess her bad habits have not been all in vain.....LOL. She seems to be going out more on her own and just wandering in the backyard. And that is really all it is about. Sit back relax and enjoy your big ole yard. I did cancel my April cruise, just did not think I wanted her forward progress to be damaged by me being gone for 12 nights. The last short trip i was on, did not go so well i thought and need to meet with the pet sitter again........

Anyway.......things are good and we promise not to stay away for so long. And that picture up top....Kati tries hard to follow Molly but Molly is not into sharing her space. Not sure what they were looking at but it was one of the few times they were both in sync and Kati was trying to be cool like Ms. Molly!!

The Tummy Rub!!

Guess what.....Kati has a tummy!! And i got to rub it for the very first time today!! So i have mentioned about the morning back rubs for Kati before........well today during our morning rub, she slowly turned over on her back and gave me her tummy to rub. I had never even seen it before. That was certainly off limits to the humans and never to be shared. I was not sure what she was doing until she let her head relax and her warm little belly was there for the rubbing. She let me do that for a few minutes, until the punk Dobie..........always afraid he will not get his share, busted his little head in for some loving too. It was over as quick as it stated. I think she has been watching each morning when we all wake up and I rub on Molly and Dobie. If they were all cats, i am sure there would be purring.

Bath Day!!

So Thurday was bath day and it started pretty well. Everyone got up happy and perky and Kati even managed to get busted chewing on a little blanket she pulled off the couch....it was very cute as you can see from the picture. Earlier in the day she managed to drag her ass all over the living room rug. Seems she has some leftovers from her chew bone the day before....fun clean up effort for me and another reason for that fabulous bath I knew was coming later in the day. When i did finally get her captured and it is indeed a capture event......as she does not come to me just to be coming to me like the other dogs. (Sorry about the crappy picture)

Dobie and Molly will come to me just about any time and certianly don't run from me. They know i am good people and there is no reason to run. Kati is starting to figure out that getting a back rub is not half bad and when i do manage to hold her, she does actually relax in my lap for a bit. But anyway, once captured and i got her into the bathroom......her behind was icky and there was not enough butt dragging she could have done to get cleaned up. So the agenda for bath day was going go be front and back end work!!

I screwed around and waited too long to try and start capturing her for her grooming. Once the hunt was on, she was on to me and was going to have not part of anything i had to offer. I feed her treats and tried to pin her in the office, then the bedroom........and well you can probably imagine. So in all this drama Dobie decided it was play time with a squeezy ball. And just so seems that this ball is loud and Kati does not do loud. So the loud ball sent her into the office under the desk, with Dobie and I to follow and the door was closed. Trapped at last!! and only 1/2 hour to grooming time. So i got her captured, collared and leashed and just decided to hold her for the next 1/2 hour..........and it was not all that bad!! She survived and so did Dobie, whinning at my feet to either be up there too or have her down with him!!

And of course, forgot all about the camera for bath time again. But we did get her face all cleaned up........probably a bit too short but she will grow out. And best of all, got her backside all cut up and shortened for better clean up on both our parts. Due to her puppymill upbringing, she is not into the basic cleaning that most dogs will do. She is coming around but it is no big deal for her to walk in poop or just run thru some pee from time to time. The other two.....especially Dobie, will step around in a huge way or even stop and go back.........before going near others business. He is a real snob about it all, wont drink old water either. And by old, i mean older than 12 hours. Goes up to the bowl, sniffs and walks away!!

A Much Better Week....

Welcome back to normal....sort of. Your mind wanders a lot when something like suicide hits your world...........but all i can do is better, cant go back and change what has already happened. So as I was saying, the regular pet sitter who spends the night was not available and i was convinced that the twice a day pet sitter would do fine and besides.....Kati really does better when no one is around. It is the other two that end to run rampant in the yard and bark just to hear themselves i think. So Rhonda the twice a day visit pet sitter is way into cats and not dogs for the most part, but she came over to meet Kati and said she was just like the feral cats that she finds from time to time. Needless to say they got along just great and Kati did not even spend as much time in the closet as she did when Ashley was at the house. But then she is getting much better around people in general.....well she does still pretty much run from me unless in the morning.

Mornings are our best time!! She lets me rub on her just about any where, she will some sit on the ground near me and stay there until i quite rubbing her or she decides she is done. Some days it is a very long time, others just a minute or two. This morning she did not even get out of her bed until i was totally ready for work, which was a first. But then now that i think of it, Molly who is always last got up first and Dobie and Kati were both last and dragging their feet. She just loves to potty on my rubber mat right out side the back door and now Dobie has decided he likes it as well. I have started to push it further and further away from the door but with the rain yesterday i think it really helped with them having some place to go that was not in the rain. Molly being the sweetheart that she is, will go out in the rain anytime and just hang a while. She is however, very opposed to thunder and lightning. We have not had much of that since Kati came to town, it will be interesting when the summer monsoons arrive because they can be very noisy indeed.

So we missed a week of puppy class when i was out of town last week but this week we had major breakthroughs if you ask me. So the first week she curled up in the corner and did not leave until i picked up up and class was over with. This past Saturday started out the same way but something happened halfway through class where she decided a walk around the room might not be so bad. We went around the perimeter or the room 4-5 times and walked past and around the other 4 dogs like it was no big deal. She really has no issue with other dogs and were bothered less by them than they were of her. She is the smallest dog in the class and the other most scared dog is a huge German Shepard, named Jerry. I think her and Jerry are trying to bond a bit and the other dogs she just walks around and mostly ignores them and distracts them from their training. She hates the clicker noise so there will really be no training along those lines but getting out and about does her good and she seems to really like car rides!! Now if i could just get her caught easier when i need to have her in had. She gets her second haircut this week and we will try and trim a few toenails!!

The real world arrived last week......

Smile Dobie!! OK well at least he did not run away but let me take the picture. He is the cool dude, just waiting for spring when there will be geckos to chase in the yard again.....

The real world arrived this past week. It has been pretty nice here in Kati-land doing the new dog thing and just living life day to day and seeing good in all. Last Sunday I get one of those after 10pm phone calls......you all know them, the one you are afraid to answer!! You know it will not be good news and sure enough it was the worst kind possible. My 31 year old niece, Jessie, had killed herself. My family is as far from the Walton's as you can get and there was no doubt thanks to caller ID this would be crappy phone call but ........gosh, how could it possibly be this crappy. I was expecting someone to be dead......but an older person. Not someone younger, vibrant and down right out beautiful .....her whole life ahead of her. Jessie has been "sick" for a quite a few years but either i never "heard" or wanted to hear that is was this bad. So as you can imagine, going back home to Kansas this past week was not much fun.....not to mention the 12 degree mornings they were having with day temps not getting much past 32. I just don't do cold so well anymore you know!!

I had not been home to Wichita in over 11 years and i really don't have a good answer for why not. I have always said, come see me in AZ.......i have seen all of Kansas i really wanted too!! It was a good visit i guess. Saw all 7 brothers and sisters some of those not seen in the 11 years.....funny how we can all manage to get together for a funeral. What is that all about anyway?? Why not get together while every one is alive......doh! Saw a few friends, met grand nieces and nephews i had never met. Funny how others are aging and not me....ha ha ha! Weird thing was i stayed with the friends that bought the house i grew up in.....weird in that the dreams were creepy and probably won't be staying with them again. I slept in the same bedroom i used to share with my sister and have fights in. I will have to give them credit.....they finally put a shower in that bathroom upstairs. Gotta wonder why Daddy only made it a bath and we had to run up and down stairs growing up to use the bathroom with the shower??

Kit (my sister) is doing pretty darn well i would have to say. She is very relieved not to go to bed each night now worrying about her daughter........and what kind of torment the next day will have for her. The voices, the people watching her......i can go on, but i think you understand. More later.......this makes me sad and need to give it up for a while. Sorry for the downer, but reality i guess even has to come to the happy dogland too.

P.S....regular dog sitter was not available, so all three "kids" would have to spend their nights alone....without a human in the house!!

What's going on lately??

So this has been a week of toys and games. Kati is learning to play ball in the yard, or chase Dobie not sure which she is doing just yet. She has to watch us a bit and then decide she can come out and play. She chases Dobie and then decides she needs the ball. As you can see above there is no shortage of toys for them to play with as well. They don't play with much for long but i think they like making the mess for me to push back into a corner for them to pull out again. She and Dobie have also started to play a bit more. He likes to play bite face and legs and she is just not sure what that is all about. Now if she will just let him clean her eyes, maybe between the two of us she will not look so scruffy.

Seems like there was more this past week or so, but i did not do a very good job of writing thing down to help me remember. She really has figured out that the kitchen area provides food and anytime i go near there she is right on my heels just sure there will be treats....and most of the time there is.... I did have to switch her water bowl last week.....she decided it was cute to dump out the water and play with the bowl. She has a big ole crock bowl now and the one time she tired to dumpy the noise and weight of it all scared her so that little game is over for now..

So that is Molly in the picture and i have to Kati credit for bringing her out of the closet. See Molly has lived in my closet for many years. It all started with her liking to hang out in the laundry basket that was in the closet. Well, she hurt her back on year hopping in and out so the basket came out but she decided to stay in. This is a picture of Molly having found a home in Pam's suitcase when she visited earlier this month. Molly is a loaner and would be fine as an only dog but i refuse to allow her to win. Kati decided her closet was a safe place and started hanging out with her in there and now Molly has decided she does not like it anymore. So she is on the bed, the couch, hanging in the back yard ......very fun to see her socializing in her old age. She does go back there some but for the most part she is some place i can see her and know she is still #1. (and she is!!)

The Holidays and Beyond!!

So once we got through the bath it was all downhill from there. Sister Pam came to visit. Pam was with me when i adopted Kati and they really seemed to get along well.....however, Kati did not seem to remember things that way and really took all four days to get used to Pam. Even was barking at her a few times. I really think it is the high pitch of Pam's voice, when talking to her, that bothers her. It would seem that the times it caused barking was when Pam would talk in a higher pitched voice........oh well, she is gone now and nothing seems quite normal.

Yesterday afternoon i was play ball with Dobie, and low and behold......after about 5 minute or so Kati comes running out to get in the action. She chased Dobie when he would chase the ball, it was very cute!! She played with us for about another 10 minutes and even picked up the ball once. I thought she was going to run with it but it was a false alarm. It was very nice to see her doing normal dog things and running at full speed in the yard. I just never know when she will decide it is ok to be a dog and let down her guard. It was a good night for sure........cuz after that.....Nat Geo DogTown was on and there she was with all the other Nebraska puppy mill rescues on the tv. I knew Animal would be featured but had no idea Kati would be seen as well. Certainly did not know they had filmed the rescue and that she got to BestFriends.org in a plane. How cool is that!! I have to admit i was a little jealous of Animal, he seemed to play more than Kati does with other dogs but then maybe she will just be a bit slower to trust and let others in.

And speaking of trust and in......she went to her first dog class today. She pretty much never left her corner once we got there. She had a great car ride and was pretty much scared and withdrawn at class. I know each week will be better and the point is she is getting to be around other dogs and people. She has been running more in the yard and doing business out there as well. I took her straight out there after class, closed the dog door and she ran around with the other like i wild woman and did her business........gotta love it. When i don't stress about it all, she does just what she is supposed to. I really would have liked for her to be a bit more open in class but i think that will come with time. Shannon has seen the show last night but did not know Kati was one of the rescue dogs until i said something when she was talking about the show. It certainly opened my eyes even wider to where she had been and what she had been through. No pressure and just lots of love .......she will come around when she is ready or not. Either way, she is staying and will be loved. Dobie has some training this afternoon........trying to control the barking and leash walking......wish us luck!!